Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Loris Community Hospital Helip Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Loris, South Carolina 29569
Thursday, July 2, 2009 21:00 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was performing a visual nighttime approach to a hospital heliport to pick up a patient for transport. The pilot flew the final approach west, into the wind. As the helicopter approached the helipad the two onboard clinicians were calling out obstructions, such as trees and light poles. About 5 feet above the helipad the tailrotor struck a short steel pole adjacent to the helipad. The helicopter shuttered and vibrated, but the pilot was able to continue the landing. Although all three crewmembers had been to the heliport before, they forgot about the short steel poles aligned adjacent to the helipad. The recorded weather at an airport approximately 15 miles northeast of the accident site, about the time of the accident, included calm wind, clear skies, and visibility of 10 miles. After the accident, the hospital removed the short steel poles adjacent to the helipad and the Federal Aviation Administration initiated research into the crew training, operations specifications, and the history of the poles being erected near the helipad. Additionally, the operator’s regional safety manager stated that all pilots have begun additional training to position aircraft in such a manner to ensure that all components of the aircraft are clear of all hazards on the periphery or boundaries of marked landing zones/heliports, rather than attempting to place the center of the aircraft at the center of the landing zone/heliport. The operator also initiated a reassessment of hazards at landing zones/heliports within each of their regions’ normal operating area, and reported that the information from the reassessments will be added as part of normal preflight briefings and risk assessments.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The crew's failure to see and avoid a steel pole during a nighttime approach to the helipad.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/2/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 2100 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Loris |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29569 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340332N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0785354W |
| Event Location Airport | Loris Community Hospital Helip |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 5SC5 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 91 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2058 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 45 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CPC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 98 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.87 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 25899 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Southern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 21 2009 3:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | guzj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N53963 |
| NTSB Number | ERA09LA378 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | EUROCOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | AS 350 B2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3963 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2120 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 29 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 7 |
| Airframe Hours | 2377 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | US BANCORP EQUIPMENT FINANCE INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | ADDISON |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75001-5306 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | OMNIFLIGHT HELICOPTER INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | ADDISON |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 75001 |
| Operator Code | 02MA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | HYW |
| Departure City | Conway |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2040 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | 5SC5 |
| Destination City | Loris |
| Destination State | SC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 21 2009 3:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | muzd |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | Yes |
| Medical Flight | -- |